[Buddha-l] Remaining in Samsara

[jkirk]

Hello Dmytro,

I don't think that the Burman nat cults have a connection with
Indian Nath traditions. 

The goals of the two are different. The goal of the Indian Naths
(a jati as well as a religious community) is eventual non-rebirth
as a result of living ethically, according to sila. 

The goals of Burman nat worship are material and pragmatic in the
here and now: job success, making lots of money; and
personal--relief from familial problems, getting husbands out of
jail, etc. The term naat, meaning 'lord" might be a loan word
from Sanskrit or neighboring Skt.-related languages. But the
practice of nat pwes--shamanistic ceremonies commissioned by
individuals or married couples as a means to beseech the nats for
favors--more resemble those of S. E. Asia and Taiwan. Nat kadaws
(shamans) are often transvestites in daily life, or gays (some
are straights). They make a good living putting on these
performances for their clients.  As one gay nat kadaw said, in a
film I've just screened for review ("Friends in High Places"),
"If you're a woman, you can only serve as a female; if a man,
only as a male, otherwise it won't work. If gay, you can do
either."  The shaman is 'married' to the nat, or nats. 

Here is a news article about a woman shaman in Taiwan. Her
equipment and goals share many characteristics with the nats I
viewed in the film:
 http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/10/asia/shaman.php --the
bottle of booze in one hand, the costume (here she impersonates a
monk so her costume has color patches); advice and counseling
given to devotees. Friends in High Places is a first-rate film,
by the way--amazing in fact. The filmmaker is Anglo Burman. She
was able to get right into the midst of the action, in extremely
crowded circumstances.

Buddhist content: the film begins with two sisters talking about
nats to the filmmaker--one of them is a Buddhist, and she says,
pointing to the sky, 'Buddha is up there, nats below'--her
Christian sister says,'God is high up, nats are below God.'  They
both affirm that they believe in nats. During the film, a
heavy-set middle-aged monk appears in the nat pwe audience, pays
some currency bills to the presiding nat kadaw, then goes and
sits to the side and is evidently enjoying the performance.  The
main nat kadaw in this film is exceptionally outstanding as a
theatrical performer. You can see a trailer on the DER website by
clicking the link found here:
http://www.der.org/films/friends-in-high-places.html
 
The wikipedia article is wrong to state that nat pwes are more
often found in rural areas--today they are big right in
Rangoon/Yangon, the big city. One way of dealing with the stress
of living with the dictators.

Cheers, Joanna
==================



Dmytro

BTW I wonder whether the Burmese Nat cult is connected with Nath
tradition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_(spirit)
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